1989 champs like look of current A's

OAKLAND -- Could this be the A's team that gets back to the World Series? Members of the 1989 championship club believe so.

"I feel real, real confident that these kids here have the essentials to get to the World Series," said Dave Stewart.

Stewart was named MVP of the '89 World Series after winning two of the four games against the Bay Bridge-rival Giants while giving up just three runs. That's the last time the franchise claimed a World Series title, making Friday's 25th reunion at the Coliseum all the more special.

"Any time you have a World Series team that you can celebrate, you do it," said A's manager Bob Melvin. "That team's as good as you get. One of those teams the visiting teams would stay out and watch batting practice. They did a lot of things right. They hit a bunch of homers, too."

Jose Canseco hit a lot of those home runs. On Friday, he returned to the Coliseum for the first time since last playing there with the Yankees on Aug. 27, 2000.

"I think this occasion right now is great for all of us, to relive that in a positive way," said Canseco. "I'm still very nervous. I don't know how the fans will react to me. I have no idea. I'm putting myself out there in the most vulnerable state possible."

That's because Canseco "deeply regrets" writing the 2005 book "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Got Big," in which he made several claims -- among them that Mark McGwire had used performance-enhancing drugs since the 1980s and that Canseco had personally injected him with them.

"I've had my share of nightmares because of [the book]," he said. "I, myself, am trying to move forward from it. It's very difficult.

"I hurt myself the most. These were my teammates, my friends. We would confide in each other. These people who I mentioned in the book belong in the Hall of Fame, and I'm very worried and really depressed about the way they're trying to not vote these players in. They're saying these PEDs made them into a superstar athlete. That's so incorrect."

Canseco said he has reached out to McGwire, now the Dodgers' hitting coach, on multiple occasions, but has yet to hear from him. He's found forgiveness elsewhere, though.

"Time heals everything for me," said Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley. "I tell you what? I've said things, I just haven't said it in a book. I'm cool with him. I think most guys are. … Part of me is glad it happened, because I like people being exposed."

Eckersley joined his former teammates in honoring the late Bob Welch, who died in June, by sporting "BW" patches on their jerseys. Rickey Henderson, Carney Lansford and Dave Henderson were among the other attendees.

"He was such a big part of that team, and if you know Bobby, he was a huge part of it," Eckersley said. "There's something about him, he just carried this special spirit, to say the least. He was a unique, unique guy."

The A's will continue to honor the '89 team with a pregame on-field ceremony on Saturday.

"We were a ballclub that refused to be beat," said Stewart. "We believed in putting our foots on the opponents' neck. We could beat by pitching, by hitting the ball out of the park. We were a defensive ballclub. We did a lot of things well. "We should be recognized with some of the best teams that ever played, in my opinion."

Reddick to be re-evaluated after this weekend

OAKLAND -- The A's began the second half without outfielder Josh Reddick, who will continue his Minor League rehab assignment through the weekend.

Reddick is scheduled to play Friday, Saturday and Sunday with Class A Advanced Stockton in Inland Empire. The A's will then re-evaluate him before deciding on a return date.

Reddick was placed on the disabled list June 29 with a strained right knee for the second time in a month, at which point the A's recalled first baseman Nate Freiman from Triple-A Sacramento. Freiman could stick on the roster when Reddick is activated, since fellow first baseman Kyle Blanks (left calf) is still rehabbing.

Blanks appears to still be at least a week away from his own rehab stint, and with Stephen Vogt continuing to swing a hot bat, the A's will likely be inclined to demote either Andy Parrino or Eric Sogard, even with Alberto Callaspo (right hamstring) on the DL.

Parrino got the start at second base on Friday, while Sogard remained on the bench. Sogard has started just three of the club's last 21 games and is batting .186 on the season.

"He's scuffling a little bit right now," said manager Bob Melvin. "It doesn't mean he's completely out of the mix. It's been tough for him here recently, and I haven't gotten him in the lineup to where he can get going. It's a combination of things for him. You can't get rolling until you get some at-bats and, to this point, he hasn't had any consistently."

A's sign 25 of their 40 selections in Draft

OAKLAND -- The A's inked 25 of their 40 selections from the 2014 First-Year Player Draft in advance of Friday's 2 p.m. PT deadline, including each of their first 13 selections.

Backstop Casey Schroeder, the club's 14th-round pick, went unsigned, as did the other three catchers they drafted: Eric Cheray (17th round), Tom Gavitt (19th) and Michael Rivera (33rd).

Overall, the A's signed 17 pitchers, including 13 right-handers, and eight position players, only one of whom is an outfielder.

First-round pick Matt Chapman, a third baseman out of Cal State Fullerton, received a $1.75 million signing bonus, slightly below the pick value of $1,898,000.

Worth noting

• The All-Star break proved to be enough rest for Coco Crisp, who was back in the A's lineup Friday after missing the final four games of the first half with a neck ailment.

"It's still going to be a day-to-day proposition with him," said Melvin, "but he felt good today."

• Nick LeGrande, who tossed out the first telerobotic first pitch in MLB history at the Coliseum last year, will throw the first pitch in person on Sunday before the A's take on the Orioles.

The 15-year-old LeGrande, diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia, a rare blood disorder, threw his telerobotic first pitch on June 12, 2013, from 1,800 miles away in his hometown of Kansas City. He underwent a successful bone marrow transplant the following month and has since been cleared medically to make the pitch in Oakland.

A's reliever Ryan Cook will catch Nick's first pitch again -- this time, in person.

Jane Lee is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.